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Original poster

'I am not just a woman'

54 replies

JellySlice · 27/05/2020 11:02

'Just'? Why 'not just'? Surely the phrase should have been "I am a woman"?

'I am not just a woman'
OP posts:
334bu · 27/05/2020 19:47

Sexist, misogynistic but oh so inclusive.Y chromosome welcome.

DidoLamenting · 27/05/2020 19:40

Would it be less awful if they had dressed her in something incongruous to engineering like a ball gown, or a tutu or a sparkly dance frock and put

Engineer, Innovater, Pioneer, Leader etc, etc, and added at the bottom

"Oh and dancer"

Or they could just have photographed her on an oil rig or a hydro scheme or a half built bridge.

Binterested · 27/05/2020 19:03

Ever seen an ad that says ‘I am not just a man’ ? No because the concept of being ‘just a man’ doesn’t exist whereas the concept of being ‘just a woman’ clearly exists and this advert doesn’t even try to overturn it. It reinforces it in order to elevate the other stuff. Crap.

Original poster
JellySlice · 27/05/2020 18:47

Just a woman also includes anyone who identifies as such according to IET

Oh, no, really? FFS.

OP posts:
Rollingtheball · 27/05/2020 18:40

Yes I get what they’re trying to say (we’re more than a gender) but they’re inadvertently feeding the narrative that being (just) a woman isn’t good enough.

334bu · 27/05/2020 18:38

Just a woman also includes anyone who identifies as such according to IET

Datun · 27/05/2020 18:36

Strewth, can you imagine?

You're not just a man, you're a disruptor. Yes you are.

Original poster
JellySlice · 27/05/2020 18:31

This is meant to encourage women in STEM, yet to me it reads like a woman feels the need to justify her presence in STEM.

What woman in STEM thinks of herself as 'just' a woman?

OP posts:
Ereshkigalangcleg · 27/05/2020 17:26

I very much doubt they would use the tagline "you are not just a man". Because no one expects men to be written off as "just" a man.

EveryoneLoves09876 · 27/05/2020 17:04

As in you are more than your body. See you as who you really are.

Like you are not just a man. You are also a father, brother, gardener, teacher etc.

Pipandmum · 27/05/2020 16:54

Feel the same about 'just a mother'. Like that is my sole identity.

fuckinghellthisshit · 27/05/2020 16:50

FFS

ThinEndoftheWedge · 27/05/2020 16:43

Yep - trying to give something - but actually taking away.

Idiots.

OhHolyJeaus needs to redo it. She has the right idea.

Lordfrontpaw · 27/05/2020 16:36

I’m just happy the photo is of a woman. I get pleasure out of such small things these daya

CaraDune · 27/05/2020 16:07

It's a bloody awful poster, for all the reasons upthread. (I am a woman in STEM, btw.)

DidoLamenting · 27/05/2020 14:07

OneEpisode

I am also proud of my blue eyes. Sorry not sorry

I reserve pride for something I have actually done or achieved.

Being proud of a physical characteristic one had no control over or input into is the start of a slippery slope.

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 27/05/2020 14:02

It is actually what a lot of women would say. I know this because I have heard them -- usually when they were reacting to someone mansplaining at them.

It has gone along with "Yes, I know. I wrote the paper you are misquoting."

BloomedAgain · 27/05/2020 13:19

That is really bad.

PicsInRed · 27/05/2020 13:16

Well, thank goodness she qualified as an engineer so that she wasn't just a lowly woman anymore.

OneEpisode · 27/05/2020 13:07

I am also proud of my blue eyes. Sorry not sorry.

DidoLamenting · 27/05/2020 12:59

I don't think it needs to say "woman" at all. She is obviously a woman.

"Sister" is awful too.

Datun · 27/05/2020 12:58

Sexist crap. You might as well say I'm not just a woman, how dare you insult me.

OhHolyJesus · 27/05/2020 12:53

Could have been

I am an engineer
I am a woman
I am a pioneer
I am a sister
I am a disruptor

It tries but fails in its messaging of hierarchy. Being "not just a woman" makes being a woman the baseline and the lowest of what she is and everything else comes above that. They miss the point that there doesn't need to a a hierarchy at all.

DidoLamenting · 27/05/2020 12:41

They could have omitted all the text with the exception of "leader" "pioneer" "engineer" .I don't like "disruptor- they could use something more positive and connected to being an engineer e.g "innovator" "problem solver"

DidoLamenting · 27/05/2020 12:38

The poster is awful. I know what they are trying to say but it's awful and if anything has exactly the opposite effect intended.

I don't however think it makes any sense to say one is "proud of being just a woman". There's nothing wrong with being a woman but how can one be proud of something one has no control or input in? I might as well say I'm proud of having blue eyes.

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